NBC: WHO recommending more investigation into the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab

[Yorkie Mom]

In a sharp U-turn, the WHO is recommending more investigation into the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory, once dismissed by some as a conspiracy theory but since taken seriously by many experts and officials.

Link to tweet

China slams new WHO report suggesting further investigation into Covid ‘lab leak’ theory

New study is a U-turn for the agency, which was criticized for ruling out the theory last year and has faced accusations of being too deferential to Beijing.

The World Health Organization is recommending more investigation into the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory, something once dismissed by some as a conspiracy theory but since taken seriously by some experts and officials.

Thursday’s report marks a shift for the WHO. To investigate Covid’s origins it commissioned an international group of experts who, working alongside Chinese health officials, published a study in February 2021 saying the lab-leak theory was “extremely unlikely.”

But the report was controversial from the start, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing three days later that nothing had been ruled out, and that “all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis.”

After months of criticism, Tedros said in July that it had been “premature” to rule out the idea because “I have worked in the lab, and lab accidents happen.”

More: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/covid-19-urges-investigation-chinese-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-rcna32910?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[former9thward]

1. This is the only logical explanation.

Especially since the Chinese have refused access or cooperation with any outside investigation.

[Yorkie Mom]

3. I agree.

[Backseat Driver]

6. I've been willing to accept that it SUDDENLY and naturally evolved to jump species, but all it takes

is one mad motivated scientist with a lab to switch to "gain of function" investigations of pathogens ANYWHERE in the world (government, corporate, or private lab) to create/weaponize a previously thought long-time silent "germ" like any of the coronaviruses. We've watched that initial single murderous pathogen, however it came to cause human disease, take its toll around the globe. Finding national or specific individual/national culpability for its origin, at this point, isn't useful, IMHO!

[former9thward]

7. It is very useful.

Whether it was a direct lab leak or animal "jump" means a lot in prevention and treatment. There has to be a reason the Chinese refuse any cooperation with any international attempts to investigate.

[Backseat Driver]

11. I do agree that sloppy labs anywhere would be dangerous to the general global population.

I therefore hope it was a wake-up call for protocols to prevent lab leaks; Batelle's CD4 lab isn't far from my home. I also think that creating a "novel" chimera virus just isn't necessarily a wise thing to do anymore than forwarding it and one's notes on a project on to previous team members working elsewhere, Dr. Ralph Baric. Sure, there's likely a reason, maybe even not a very good one, that Chinese are uncooperative.

And, I don't mean to absolve TFG from ANYTHING; he's what I call (dys)functionally insane, intent on chaos and panic for his own agenda and pleasure, a clear and present danger, for sure!!!

[dweller]

2. FFS

Cue up Pisswig vindication of the Jina virus
😑


✌🏻

[Sympthsical]

4. The media really shit the bed with this

Actively censoring even questioning where the virus came from.

It's not about punishing China - does anyone realistically think China will ever suffer any consequences?

It's about where a pandemic that killed millions of people originated. If it was a lab accident, we should know how and why so that we can take steps to ensure it never happens again. We owe that to the dead.

What I have no patience for - at all - are people who try to block investigating this because they think it "absolves" Trump in some way. As if it makes his cruelty, incompetence, and ignorance magically disappear. It does not.

We should always strive to understand facts and the truth - not actively work against them because we don't like what the narrative could be.

It's good they're investigating. I spoke up about this a few times. Got a few hides for it, too. Facts don't care about narratives.

[Yorkie Mom]

5. Same!

I had thread hidden because of this.

[womanofthehills]

8. I also had threads hidden for this

I think a big part of the problem is that through Eco-Health Alliance we were helping fund this research. Ralph Baric and Dr Shi Zhengli of Wuhan’s lab wrote research papers together on gain of function research. Interesting, how Obama stopped this research in US after several anthrax escape accidents. Ralph Baric seems to have been very upset with Obama’s decision and the research seemed to continue in Wuhan…. When Trump got into office, he reversed Obama’s decision. Our Fort Dietrich Bio Lab was closed for months because of sloppy mistakes. Also, our Galveston Bio Lab trained young Wuhan’s scientists. It’s all interconnected.

https://archive.org/details/baric-zhengli-shi-re-engineer-the-hku-4-spike-to-increase-corona-virus-infectivity.-gain-of-function

[AntiFascist]

17. I don't like the fact that threads were hidden...

this should have been an apolitical discussion, and some of us may have been on to something. The conspiracy theory police shut it down so that it wouldn't make DUers look bad.

[AZProgressive]

12. Some that have believed in the China lab leak theory

Also deny Russia interfered in the 2016 election and are generally anti-mask and anti-vax. They don’t take the pandemic seriously to prevent more deaths. Climate change prevents nature from regulating viruses so that is my main concern when it comes to preventing the next pandemic.

The US would turn down international investigators for their labs so I don’t see their refusal to cooperate as much evidence for anything.

[Sympthsical]

13. I. Don't. Care.

I care about evidence. Facts. What the truth is.

You may throw in guilt by association and see if it sticks, but that isn't in any way productive in rooting out what is true.

That should be our primary occupation in these things. Not, "How does this affect arguments on Twitter?"

[AZProgressive]

14. I was just saying those that I have seen push the China lab leak theory

Are into other Covid misinformation theories and don’t care about containing the virus. My position is it doesn’t matter where it came from we have to deal with it instead of finding scapegoats.

I don’t even argue on Twitter and I haven’t seen facts or evidence that it was a lab leak.

[womanofthehills]

16. It definitely matters where it came from - we need to tighten up labs

LONDON, (IANS) – Just days after saying that the Covid lab leak theory needs “further investigations”, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief has privately confided to a senior European politician that the pandemic originated from China’s infamous Wuhan lab.

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the most likely explanation was a catastrophic accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, where infections first spread in late 2019, Daily Mail reported.

However, publicly, the UN health agency maintains that “all hypotheses remain on the table”.
https://indiawest.com/2022/06/22/covid-virus-likely-leaked-from-wuhan-lab-who-chief/

[Sympthsical]

19. Facts aren't scapegoats

It's so baffling that how a virus that killed millions - including over a million Americans - originated isn't even a point of curiosity.

Or that in even asking a scientific question and wanting an investigation is cause enough for censorship (or indifference to censorship) purely out of partisan motivation.

We're supposed to be the science people.

[roamer65]

9. Very possible.

At this point, knowing would maybe help to strengthen lab safety protocols.

Otherwise, keep getting your vaccinations.

[womanofthehills]

15. The problem is that there are so many bio labs around the world

We don’t even know where they all are or what they are working on. Even with strong protocols, accidents happen. Lab incidents from Wiki:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laboratory_biosecurity_incidents

[roamer65]

18. Very true.

All it takes is one accidental breach of protocol.

I do not believe in intentional spreading of the virus, but accidents do and can happen. It cannot be ruled out.

[ecstatic]

10. And it's clearly not just a lab accident involving a normal/untampered with virus.

It initially behaved like a bioweapon, specific in it's targeting of the elderly and/or people with expensive preexisting conditions. This "accident" could lead to our extinction. Great job, China!